


But It Wasn't The End

by DxTURA



Series: Noah Wilson and the Phantom Thieves [2]
Category: Persona 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:15:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22367026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DxTURA/pseuds/DxTURA
Summary: A sequel requested by the original Fiverr buyer!Noah is back... but not better than ever.
Series: Noah Wilson and the Phantom Thieves [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610077
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4
Collections: Urbinazation Works





	But It Wasn't The End

Noah woke up on a pitch black floor, surrounded by pitch black walls, with nothing else furnishing this inky abyss. His eyes were barely open (probably from all the crying that he did), and when he muttered to himself all he felt was a sharp pain hit his scratchy throat. He was in his own little world surrounded by nothing but white noise. Was he dead? Was he  _ dreaming _ ? His body felt like it could give out at any minute, and he was  _ not  _ comfortable with it at all.

When he tried to get off of the floor, some sort of weird force was pushing down on him. Negative energy. Negativity. Whatever it was, it wasn’t allowing him to go any further than he would’ve liked. He felt heavy and nauseous. Okay, so maybe he  _ was  _ dead. Maybe this void that he’s found himself in is his punishment for stealing that 300 yen from his mom’s wallet when he was like, nine—

A distinctly sharp shout – choppy and loud – graced his ears.

“— _ he ever gonna wake up?! _ ”

Noah whipped his head around, but no one was there. Where were these voices coming from?

When he tried to call out of him, all he experienced was pain and silence. His screeching never left him, only stayed in his head. What the hell?

“... _ trauma... more than a couple of days... _ ”

Trauma? Does that mean he wasn’t dead? He _ did _ remember seeing some horrifying shit, but what does this all mean.

Nah, he wasn’t going to worry about it now. He flopped back onto the floor (a small wince escaped him) and closed his eyes. He had _ no _ energy to deal with all of this. He just wanted to go back to sleep.

Yeah, sleep would be nice.

Too bad it wasn’t long before he felt something looming, though. He heard another voice call out to him.

‘ _ Are you just going to lie here and die? _ ’

Die? Nah. He wanted to  _ sleep,  _ that’s all. Catch some more Zs. Process this bullshit later.

‘ _ Dude. Get up. If you fall asleep here, you’ll die. _ ’

Noah popped his eyes open and had his mouth covered almost  _ instantly  _ upon a figure looking  _ exactly  _ like him towered over him near effortlessly.

Panic was still in the American boy’s eyes, but his “twin” seemed more unamused than anything.

‘ _ Relax, dude. I ain’t like those monsters you saw before. I’m literally just your subconsciousness. _ ’

Monsters? Oh,  _ right _ . Those things were literally out for his blood, and freaked him out. Monsters were an understatement. He had  _ no  _ idea what kind of creatures they were. Not to mention, his subconsciousness shouldn’t be so lucid and expressive, but whatever floats the boat at the moment. He was a welcome sight, that’s for sure.

Noah tapped his other’s hand, signaling for them to let go. He wasn’t gonna scream now. He wasn't sure if he could.

The other Noah climbed off of him and dusted off his outfit. The same outfit that he was wearing before when it all began.

‘ _ Now, are you good? Are you awake? Your friends are waiting for you, and you probably have no clue on what’s going on. _ ’ He shrugged, ‘ _ Not that they were making much sense, either. Mementos? Palaces? Phantom Thieves? They’ve been waiting for you to wake up. They want to explain everything that happened that night. _ ’

_ What  _ was he saying now? Everything made sense until it didn’t. Noah placed a hand on his temple and tried to think.

‘ _ Well? Don’t keep ‘em waiting. _ ’ The Other Noah gestured to light that was cracking out of the small corner of black. ‘ _ See you next time. Oh, and try not to die again? You’re lucky I’m even here sassing you. _ ’

The light got stronger over time, and it wasn’t long before it flooded the area and engulfed him too. He felt like he was about to drown, and started flailing about. Did that thing lie?! Is he gonna die?! What is even happening, where is he going, and why is he—

Noah shot up from his hospital bed and nearly ripped the water off the IV stand clean off. He placed both hands on his head.

“Whoa whoa whoa, holy  _ shit _ dude!!” That distinct screeching that was none other than Ryuji Sakamoto rang in Noah’s ears. Jesus, could he be any louder?

“He’s alive, he’s alive!”

“Ryuji, you’re going to get us kicked out again.” That plain response from a smooth and quiet voice; that had to be Akira. For once, however, he didn’t sound as deadpanned as he normally did. Maybe a little annoyed.

Noah pinched the bridge of his nose, then moved to wiggle his limbs around a little. Light. He was light again. If he didn’t feel so fatigued he could probably jump out of the bed without much hesitation. That and his friends blocking both sides.

Ryuji’s eyes were wide open and his jaw? Dropped. “Holy crap Noah, you gave us a scare. You’ve been out for almost a week, and the nurses were saying you weren’t doing so hot.”

“A whole week…?” A sharp pain hit Noah’s throat. “Gah, shit.”

“You might want to refrain from talking still.” Akira chimed in, “You screamed for so long – both in and out of the area – that it’s no surprise you’re hurting.”

The American boy slouched back down into his pillow. Well, not much he could do now other than look towards his friends.

“The doctor said you’ll be able to go home today. They didn’t notice any major injuries, but you had sprained your leg running so that was something,” Akira gestured to Ryuji to pull up some of the chairs in the room. “How are you feeling otherwise? Do you remember anything that happened?”

Akira was asking a lot of questions for someone who didn’t even remember what his voice sounded like… but he did. He remembered everything. He remembered trying to leave the train station to get to his house and ended up in some area that was plagued with blood and creepy creatures. He was able to fend them off with a random crowbar he found, but it wasn’t enough and he had to retreat. Then he ran into a room. He crawled under a desk. He was about to be found and killed, when he--

“...I was chased by something and someone saved me.” He spoke slowly and softly. That was the only way he  _ could  _ say anything without hurting himself. “Multiple people saved me. It was embarrassing.”

“Ah, shit. So he  _ does  _ remember.” Ryuji scratched the back of his head. The frown you gave him seemed to spook him, “N-no, no! It’s fine that you do, it’s just… ah, well...”

Akira butt in. “It’s a long story. It’s just as confusing to us as it is to anyone else. We can try our best to explain it, but it’ll be confusing.”

“Also, you can’t tell anyone. I mean it. You  _ can’t _ .” Ryuji leaned into Noah. “Ya promise?”

“R-Ryuji, it’s fine. I won’t say anything, b-but please...” Noah winced, “My body is sore.”

“Ah, sorry.”

“Right, well then.” The two teens finally sat down in their chairs. Noah tried to make himself comfy.

“Where to begin...” Akira sighed, “Well, first off: do you know  _ anything  _ about the Phantom Thieves?”

Noah had to think; Phantom Thieves? He remembered seeing something about them on his phone and on TV. He didn’t know much else other than they were branded as criminals. He told them such.

Ryuji seemed confused. “That’s it? With how often they talk about us, we might as well be goddamn celebrities.”

“Well, I’m not one to read much.” Noah chuckled, “In America, we’re so used to reading only the headline because even bullshit grows on trees there.”

Both of the boys were stunned, but Ryuji even moreso. Was he wrong?

Akira smirked, “Well, I suppose that’s a good thing. Having an unbiased view makes it easier.”

“You guys seem eager to tell me.” Noah tilted his head, “And, judging by Ryuji-kun’s response, you guys are involved with all those scandals on TV in some way.”

Ryuji nodded. “That’s ‘cause we are. We take down scummy shitheads that are causing all sorts of trouble around town. We take their hearts, we break them out of their mindset, and then we take down the palace that they’ve created!”

Noah pinched his bridge again.  _ What _ ?

Akira shook his head at Ryuji. “Gotta go slower. Noah, we’re essentially the group of… ‘misfits’ that have been running around and investigating situations that some might say we shouldn’t. We as Phantom Thieves raid these places called palaces, which – in turn – are part of a place called the metaverse, which...”

Noah was still just as confused as ever, but the two were patient with him. Not only was waking up and hearing about this stupidly convoluted, Noah just  _ didn’t  _ have the energy to process everything as fast as he normally did. He tried to repeat everything that they said in his head.

So they bring justice on people. They have these super powerful beings called Personas to swing at foes like the ones that attacked him. They use these to traverse a place called the metaverse, to steal a foe’s treasure… but leave them a card? None of this is making as much sense to him as it should, but he’s trying his best to decipher it all. He had actually grabbed his phone from the desk – Haru set it to charge – and started taking as many notes as possible on the situation. Palaces… Mementos… There was just a lot to break down.

However, once he  _ did  _ break it all down, it was starting to come clear. All those TV spots talking about how criminal and how evil they are, weren’t actually all that evil. They were simply taking care of the dirty work that no one else wanted to take care of. A lot of the crimes that he had heard about and witnessed walking around Japan could usually be intervened back at the states. His friends had told him many times to turn a blind eye in public, though; they didn’t want him jailed like Akira, after all.

The three of them talked for an awfully long time, and Akira finished explaining everything. Once he had, Noah sat in silence and closed his eyes for a small moment before finally coming up with his own questions.

“So… that’s why you guys go by names like Joker and Panther, right?”

The two of them nodded, though Ryuji spoke next. “That’s right! Though—keep it quiet. Not a lot people know, and we’d rather  _ not  _ have them figure out our identities that easily.”

“That’s fine, I’m just curious.” Noah blinked, “So, whenever you call out those cool Persona thingies, you guys get new clothes?”

“Something like that. It happens anytime we enter an area like that. Morgana would know more.”

“...Morgana can talk?” Noah was so deadpanned and the two looked at each other. Whoops. They didn’t explain that.

“Yes, he, uh… he takes the form of a cat in the real world.” Akira shrugged. “Don’t ask. We know just as much as you do.”

“Uh-huh...” Noah hummed.

Ryuji stood up from his seat. “Wait, if Noah was able to enter the area, doesn’t that mean he has the potential to channel a Persona, too? Can’t he do that?”

“Me?”

“I don’t think so, Ryuji.” Akira looked back to Noah, “I don’t think you’d want to anyway, but when we saw you in distress that’s usually the time where these… Persona come out. I feel like you would’ve been able to defend yourself or something.”

Noah looked a little disheartened, but at the same time, he had to be thankful. He did  _ not  _ want to be in that scenario again.

“Sorry we didn’t tell you this before though,” Ryuji sighed, “I know it was probably weird when every time we hung out or something, we’d avoid you. It’s not that we didn’t  _ want  _ to, but..”

“No, no, I get it.” Noah smiled, “You’re trying to save others while saving your own skin. It’s risky, and I’m worried, but if you guys have hidden it for this long then you should be fine, right?”

“You’re surprisingly understanding.”

“I mean, back in America we had all sorts of people believe in all sorts of crazy things. Religion is not that far from stuff like this, right?” Noah shrugged, “Plus, I’ve seen it in action. You guys saved my life, and I’m eternally grateful. I can’t offer much, but if you guys need a place to hang out for stuff like this you can always use my apartment.”

“D-doesn’t your aunt live there? Or your relative or something?” Ryuji winced, “We’d get caught easy.”

“My aunt works late, and usually sleeps early. She very rarely bothers me, and – at most – will probably just offer us tea and snacks and that’s it.” Noah grinned, “She knows that I’ve been hanging around you guys a lot, and has been wanting to meet you. It’s not every day that she gets to see people.”

“She a shut-in?”

“No, just extremely busy. She works in an office and gets very little socializing outside of drinking with others.”

“That’s a shit life to live,” Ryuji stuck his tongue out, “Still, if you’re really okay with it, I’m down! We gotta tell the others, though.”

Noah looked around again, “I’ve been meaning to ask, but… where  _ are  _ the others?”

Akira looked towards the entrance to the room, “They ended up leaving early today. They’ve been coming by to check on you and see if you’re okay. I think they wanted to surprise you with something? I dunno. I need to tell them that you’re alright.”

“...You guys really worried, huh?”

“Of course, you’re our friend. If anything happened to you, I don’t think we’d be this okay doing what we’re doing now.” Akira chuckled. It was a rare moment, considering he never really laughed that much. “Though, it is getting late. Should we let the doctors know that you’re ready to go home?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I need to contact my aunt, anyway.” Noah paused. “Akira. Ryuji. Thanks for… trusting me with everything. I now understand what’s going on between you guys, and why you all are so close.”

Ryuji and Noah continued to converse with one another while Akira finally got up and went to go grab the nearest nurse. The conversation went from talking about Mementos, to things he missed in school, and finally what everyone planned to do going forward.

Noah, though he wouldn’t admit to his friends, was still curious. There was a lot that he had missed on the situation, and decided now would be the time to dedicate whatever free moments he had to research. He might not have a Persona, and – at the end of the day – he might just be a normal boy.

However, if he can find any leads for them for future cases? That would be just fine for him. He’d be willing to help and support them, no matter what.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
